An act of May 8, 1792 (1 Stat. 279), provided for a "paymaster to reside near the head-quarters of the troops of the United States"; and an act of April 14, 1816 (3 Stat. 297), established a Pay Department headed by a Paymaster General. During the Civil War the Paymaster general, under the direction of the Secretary of War, was responsible for the administration of the Pay Department in all its details. The subordinate paymasters, whose exclusive duty was the disbursement of public money, were subject to orders only of the Secretary of War, the Paymaster General, and the senior officers of their own geographical departments. They were, however, subject to arrest by the senior officer of the command to which they might be assigned. Any such arrest had to be reported immediately to the Paymaster General so that he might bring the case before the Secretary of War. The Office of the Paymaster General was abolished by the consolidation of the Pay Department with the Quartermaster Department and the Subsistence Department to form the Quartermaster Corps under provisions of the Army Appropriation Act for FY 1913 (37 Stat. 591), approved August 24, 1912.
